Yesterday I did a flat, 68 miles from Cambria to Pismo Beach, with side trips through Cal Poly and Port San Luis. Brother-in-Law Paul joined me from Cayucos to San Luis Obispo and that helped the miles fly by. Today I'm doing the big climb up Santa Rosa Creek Road for the first time. I think I'm ready for it.

Smooth sailing through the lower parts

Summit of Santa Rosa Creek Road. Cambria

Not bad, big boy. Handled those 20% grade sections and now headed for the Cayucos side of 46, Old Creek Road.

Today, my donation total officially eclipsed $10,000.00! With some additional checks on their way to the Arthritis Foundation, I knew I had exceed the 5-figure mark, but a couple of online donations today got me over the hump on the California Coast Classic web site. I can't thank everyone who has supported me enough. I promise not to let you down!

Can't say enough about the outpouring of support that I have received. On the financial side, I have already exceeded my goal of $10,000.00 in one week of serious fundraising. In addition, everyone at Colliers is behind me and supportive of this undertaking and that is a huge relief. That will allow me to enjoy the experience rather than worry about what's going on at the office.My new fundraising goal is $15,000.00. I also have this notion that I'd like to try and collect at least one donation "from the road" per day during my ride. Every time I get a donation, I will take a picture of the donor and post it to my blog. That could easily generate another $500 or more for the Arthritis Foundation and it would be a good way to meet people.

Doing 50 today all loaded up. This will be my first ride ever with panniers. Riding to Palo Alto and back so its pretty flat. But I'm doing Mt. Eden so that short climb should give me a good idea what it's gonna be like lugging that extra weight uphill.

Doing my training ride loaded

Quick stop in Saratoga. Carrying panniers was about what I expected. More later.

Car Show today in Saratoga

So, I ended up doing today's ride about 1/2-mph slower than it took me on May 11th without panniers. Frankly, I would have guessed that I was 1-2 mph slower. Partly due to being in better shape now, I suspect. Panniers work great. My legs do touch (barely) the lever that secures the rack to the seat post, but I found that if I turn it a little, it doesn't rub. You just have to make sure it's tight and not turned too much or the rack is going to come off, and I'm thinking that would be bad....very bad.

Live GPS Tracker is on for today's training ride. Biggest climbing day this year, over 5,000'.

Coastal side of Old La Honda socked in

Refueling in Pescadero. Had a close call with a coyote coming out of La Honda. Saw it bolting across the road right at me. For a second I thought the damn thing was attacking me. But it didn't see me until it was almost in front of me. I braked; it braked, and it ended up crossing right behind me. Don't need to crash into any coyotes, and I sure as heck don't need rabies. All good, half-way home.

Refueling in Pescadero

My Kind of Place: San Gregorio

Troublemakers

Headed inland from coast in search of sun. Tunitas Creek climb ahead.

Arata's Farm. Some motto.

Ride went really well. Felt really good on Tunitas. Another 50 tomorrow.

Left the kids at Camp Milagros this morning and headed out on my longest training ride of the year, a 73-miler. I'm sitting in Evergreen Village right now, an East San Jose oasis you'd never guess was here if you didn't drive through it. Today's ride has some similarities to many of my BikeTheCoast13 daily rides and I'm reminded that as exited as I am, most days will still be a grind. 73 miles doesn't happen without a lot of work.

Second half of today's ride is gonna be toasty.

Evergreen Village Farmer's Market

Last refuel at Bailey Road fruit stand after coming down Metcalf (glad I wasn't going up). 20 miles left.

My tenth year (plus or minus) at Camp Milagros, working with kids with arthritis and arthritis-related diseases. One of my highlights of the year. Really enjoyed this year because we moved to a much more modern camp run by the Taylor Family Foundation, in Pleasanton.

It was just a couple weeks ago that I mentioned to Kelley that it was more dangerous cycling the Los Gatos Creek Trail than Highway 9 to Skyline Boulevard. Between all the people, pets, and potholes, the Los Gatos Creek trail is an accident waiting to happen. Today, while cycling home from work I hit a volcano in the asphalt. It was a 8" wide mini-mountain created by root growth underneath the asphalt. I didn't see it at all and probably had either too tight or too loose of a grip on the handlebars. I hit it squarely, lost control and flew off the bike. Fortunately, I think I escaped with road rash and a bruise on my hip and that's about it. I was probably doing 10-12 mph at the time. I'm limping tonight, so we'll see if I stiffen up, but I think I'm OK. I also came down on my helmet and it broke the adjustable mechanism, so I'm going to need to replace that. My bike ended up on top of me so other than a small plastic piece breaking off the end of my brake lever, it seems fine. I'd rather have heal-able road rash than a scratch in my Vilier paint job!

I'm riding back into the office tomorrow. I expect to be stiff and in some pain, but better that it happened now than a month from now. This is definitely another reminder that there is a lot that can go wrong before the big ride, let alone all that can go wrong DURING BikeTheCoast13.

Jeff Fredericks

On August 14, 2013, I'm flying to Vancouver, British Columbia and beginning a 29-day, 1,880-mile bike ride from Canada to Mexico.

On this page you'll find random ramblings before, during, and after my trek down the Pacific Coast. Prior to BikeTheCoast13, I'll blog about my prep, training, and thoughts from the road. While visiting my blog, I hope you'll offer comments, suggests, and words of encouragement. I'm going to need all the help I can get!

For those who don't know me or my inspiration, please take a moment to check out the Why Now? tab to meet my daughter Lindsey and find out how I got here.

If this site helps or inspires you in any way, I hope you'll consider making a small donation to the cause.

If you'd like to contact me personally, you can email me at Jfredericks@colliersparrish.com